Even though the packet repeater appeared to be dead for a few days, I still was able to hear the ISS with good signal strength. ISS was not transmitting, but I could hear strong radar echoes reflected by the ISS on 143.050 MHz. Have a try yourself with these echoes. Inform yourself about my experiences with strong echo signals from the ISS, moon, meteorites and even airplanes at http://dk5ec.de/graves.htm